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Early Alorian History
United Kingdom of Aloria In 1296, Charles Balfour, the Duke of Gavonshire, defeated the Ultranians at the battle of Alectrone, and subsequently united most of northern and central Aloria under his rule. In 1306, the Archbishop of Ultran granted him the title of king, and united the terretories of Ultran and Gavonshire under one crown. It was named the Kingdom of Aloria, and on 1 December 1306 Charles was crowned king Charles I of Aloria. Foreign Influence and the Road to Revolution (Early 20th Century) By the early 20th century, Aloria had lost much of the greatest it had gained in previous centuries. The Alorian economy was bad, the government largely powerless, and most Alorians wished for a democratic state. To make matters worse, in 1918, Queen Isabella III signed a treaty allowing foreign merchants a virtual monopoly on the mining idustries, which at the time was the most profitable industry in Aloria. Isabella, however, remained popular with the people as she was viewed as a victim of circumstance. A year later, she set up a Parliament that, for the first time, allowed political parties to form. This proved to be as corrupt as the bureaucrats under the monarchy, and Isabella was assassinated six months later. Isabella was succeeded by her son, Charles XIV. Charles was an ambitious politician, but lacked support of the Alorian people, who distrusted him, so he constantly relied on the military and foreign companies to do his bidding. When he shut down Parliament in 1923, many considered this the last straw. Uprising and Civil War (1924-1930) By 1924, Charles' popularity was so low that many people turned to extreme ideologies such as nationalism or communism. In July of that year, one of these groups, the Alorian Liberation Movement, had begun paramilitary operations in Krentori and Sildar under the command of a former soldier under Isabella, Richard Goodwin. A few early victories made the ALM massively popular with the people, and within two years, they captured Libertia and deposed of Charles, establishing the Republic of Aloria. However, Communist guerrillas in the north refused to acknowledge the single-party Republic, instead proclaiming their own government, the Socialist Republic of Aloria, making Felix Auvergne the Chairman of the Republic. The fighting between the two sides continued on for several years. The Republic was more popular and supported internationally, but the Communists were better trained and equipped. Then, on Christmas Day 1929, a massive Communist offensive routed Republican troops in Sildar and Gavonshire. Richard Goodwin was killed, and on January 19, 1930, Aloria was unified under the Socialist Republic. The Monarchy Reestablished (1930-1933) It was not before long that the chaos that had engulfed Aloria would come back. In traditionally conservative regions like Ultran and Sildar, people were looking for a leader that would overthrow the Socialist regime, which was becoming increasingly tyrannical. Phillip Concord of Ultran, former general and Duke of Ultran, had a populist attitude to go with his conservative ways. A member of the Communist Party to avoid getting killed, Concord began to plan a coup. With the support of many officers and conservative Alorians, he stormed the People's Soviet Congress on March 1, 1933, executing Chairman Auvergne. By April, most loyalists had been killed or arrested, and Phillip was crowned King. The Last King of Aloria (2089-2099) In August 22, 2089 king Charles XVII died. His just 18-year old grandson succeeded him as king Charles XVIII. Charles XVIII had an enormous responsibility, as the government was deeply in debt, and resentment towards 'despotic' monarchy was on the rise. Charles also felt unqualified for the job. Many other Alorians felt he was too young and inexperienced, and wasn't ready for the throne yet, as well as being too much under the influence of his Prime Minister, the very unpopular John Davis Clarke. While none doubted Charles’s intellectual ability to rule Aloria, it was quite clear that, although raised as the Crownprince since 2077, he was indecisive and not firm enough to rule. It was clear that the coronation of Charles XVIII marked the last days of the monarchy. His grandfather left him an extremely harsh political legacy. The old king had given almost all power to Prime Minister Davis Clarke, and under his regime, hostile relations with Rtania heated up. This resulted in the Alorian-Rutanian War in 2094, in wich Aloria tried to reconquer Bozarland. This war proved disastrous for Aloria, which would take Aloria's place as the major land power on Northern Artania. Political and economical unrest In the wake of the Alorian-Rutanian War, the monarchy was seen by some to be an obstacle to modernization and economic growth. Liberals called both for greater regional autonomy. The nation was nearing bankruptcy and outlays outpaced income. Besides that, the weak king was too much under the influence of his mentors, the dicatorial Prime Minister and some highly conservative bishops. The influence of the mighty Church caused the absence of the many liberal reforms Aloria needed so much at that moment. Meanwhile, the burgouis and the lower classed citizens became a more and more larger faction in Aloria. Radical financial reforms by Finance Minister Edmund Gordonstone angered the nobles and were blocked by the Senate who insisted that the King did not have the legal right to levy new taxes. So Gordonstone was dismissed in September 2096 to be replaced by James Neville. Neville proceeded with a policy of taking out large international loans instead of raising taxes. When this policy failed miserably, Charles dismissed him, and replaced him in 2097 with Rutherford Robertson, who increased public spending to 'buy' the country's way out of debt. Again this failed, so Charles convoked the Senate in May 2097 to discuss a revolutionary new fiscal reform proposed by Neville. When the nobles were told the extent of the debt, they were shocked into rejecting the plan. This negative turn of events signaled to Charles that he had lost the ability to rule as an absolute monarch, and he fell into depression. By the late 2090s, the Kings's control of domestic politics had started to deteriorate in the face of crises with the Church, the Army and the Landholders. The Republican movement slowly gained strength. The dominant classes no longer needed the kingdom to protect their interests. On December 1, 2097, Charles dismissed the entire government and assumed full executive powers to quash the violent uprising. But this act only made the situation worse. The country was on the edge of a civil war outbreak. The country was now in an unbearable political crisis: cabinet-switches occured almost every month (from December 2097 until June 2098 there were 14 differenct governments). Meanwhile, the King lost support of the army. Military coup Finally, a military coup d'etat on June 2, 2098 took place, under commandement of general Washington Ford. The king couldn't do anything else, then to support the new military junta, since the majority of the army stood behind the revolting generals. Later in the day, he went to the Ministry of Defence, where all coup leaders were gathered, and had a discussion with Ford and with leading generals. He agreed to concede to the military demands and swear the new regime in only when the junta agreed to include a number of civilian politicians, with a Royalist nominee, Wilberforce Gladstone, as Prime Minister. Charles always maintained that his brief co-operation with the coup was a tactical move that he hoped would allow him to organize a counter-coup. From the outset, the relationship between Charles and the notorious military regime was an uneasy one. The generals were not willing to share power with anyone, whereas the young king, like his grandfather before him, was used to playing an active role in politics and would never consent to being a mere figurehead, especially in a military administration. The King's countercoup The King finally decided to launch his counter-coup on December 29, 2098. Since Charleston was effectively in the hands of the junta militarily, Charles decided to fly to the northern city of Ultran. There he hoped to be among troops loyal only to him, since the mainly conservative province of Ultran was always a huge supporter of the monarchy. The vague plan he and his advisors had conceived was to form a unit that would advance to Ultran and take it. Charles planned to install an alternative administration there. International recognition, which he believed to be forthcoming, as well as internal pressure from the fact that Aloria would have been split in two governments would, the King hoped, force the junta to resign, leaving the field clear for him to return triumphant to Charleston. However, the King's plans were overly bureaucratic, naïvely supposing that orders from a commanding General would automatically be followed. Further, the King was obsessive about avoiding "bloodshed" even where the junta would be the attacker. In the circumstances, rather than the King managing to put together a force and advancing on Ultran, middle-ranking pro-junta officers neutralised and arrested his Royalist generals and took command of their units, which subsequently put together a force advancing on Ultran to arrest the King. The junta ridiculed the King by announcing the he was hiding "from village to village". Realising that the countercoup had failed, Charles surrendered on New Years Eve 2098. He was arrested and brought back to Charleston, were he was grounded in the Royal Palace. With the failure of this countercoup, the hope to restore the power of the monarchy was gone. In the early morning hours of January 1, 2099 the Republic was declared, and the King boarded the Royal plane together with Queen Theresa and their 2-year old son, and they fled to Dundorf, were they went into exile. Thousands of protesters gathered to the Prime Minister's mansion. Without any protection against the assembled mob the Prime Minister was doomed. He was taken out of his home and killed on his way to the scaffold. Immediately after hs death the bodies were mutilated and fingers toes and other parts were cut off. The Military Junta (2099-2108) A new Senate was installed, which contained mostly military officers and anti-Monarchists. On January 28, 2099, the Senate unanimously passed a motion to curtail the power of the king, who was living in exile in Dundorf, and therefor the leader of the junta, general Washington Ford became the de facto Head of State. All Royal properties were nationalized by the state, and the new installed government had forbid to all members of the Royal Family to return to Aloria, although the monarchy was never officially abolished then. Reign of Terror In March 2099, the Revolutionary Party was formed, wich must turn the military regime into a politcal party in the Senate. They would later form the Red Guard, an institutionalised secret police that carried official state support. In this way the generals succeeded in keeping power in his own hands and preventing the emergence of any rival. Between 2099 and 2103, the generals progressively dismantled virtually all constitutional and conventional restraints on their power, thereby building a police state. Almost immediately after the military's seizure of power, the junta banned all the rightist parties. All other parties were placed in "indefinite recess," and were later banned outright. In 2091 elections were held, but all other parties were outlawed, making the Revolutionary Party the only legal party in Aloria, which gained fully control over the Senate. In the same year, an electoral law abolished parliamentary elections. The Junta was characterized by repression, brutality upon the people, censorship and political incompetence. The generals preferred to call the coup d'état of 2099 a "revolution to save the nation". Its propaganda often relied on fabricated evidence and fictional enemies of the state. The Junta started to nationalize almost every major company in Aloria. The once powerful landowners, who ironically supported the fall of the king's power, lost their inherited privileges and all their land was confiscated by the new government. By the mid 2100s, the military junta became weak. In 2103, General Ford was replaced by General George Hamilton, who was ousted by general Ferdinand Clinton in 2106. Alorian military disasters in 2107 and 2108 had shaken the Junta, and eventually shattered it. They've lost another border conflict with Rutania in April 2107, wich caused a downfall among the morality of the army, when soldiers lost their faith in their leaders. In January 2108, in one of the hardest winters ever, the leaders of the Junta ordered to launche an attack on the rebelious province of Kurmal, in order to destroy all opposers of the regime. This attack costs over 200.000 victims, known as the Concordia Massacre, and led to the downfall of the military regime. The Kurmal fiasco led to senior Alorian military officers withdrawing their support for Junta strongman Clinton. Clinton was thrown out of office and executed in August 2108. During and following this event the internal political strains of the junta came to the fore and pitted the junta factions against each other, thus destroying the seemingly monolithic cohesion of the dictatorship. This had the effect of seriously weakening the coherence of the political message and, consequently, the credibility of the regime, a fatal blow from which, as later events would show, it never recovered. Several groups of people, however, even within the government, conspired throughout the term of the military regime to overthrow it. In the weeks following, thousands of Alorians marched down the street to protest against the government. They weren't affraid for the Junta anymore. Popular Uprising On December 1, 2108, in a message aired over Radio Free Aloria, the highly influential freedomfighter Bishop Lyndon Flemming exhorted Alorians to come to the aid of the rebel leaders by going to Charleston and giving emotional support, food and other supplies. For many, this seemed an unwise decision since civilians would not stand a chance against a dispersal by government troops. Nevertheless, many people, especially younger Alorians, trooped to Charleston. This would be known as the March for Freedom. Still, people came to Charleston until it swelled to hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians. The mood in the street was actually very festive, with many bringing whole families. Performers entertained the crowds, nuns and priests led prayer vigils, and people set up barricades and makeshift sandbags, trees, and vehicles in several places along Charlestons Grand Square and intersecting streets such as Bridgestreet and 5th Avenue. Everywhere, people listened to Radio Free Aloria on their radios. After days of massive protesting, even the majority of the army opposes the regime. By this time, the crowds at the Grand Square in Charleston had swollen to over a million (some estimates placed them at two million). Finally, the military regime collapsed: the majority of the Armed Forces had already changed sides. Soon after that, some high officers called a meeting of liberal Junta-members, politicians and intelectuals. The agenda was to appoint a national unity government that would lead the country to elections and a democratic government. Birth of the Democratic Republic (2108-2110) Abolishment of the Monarchy With the establishment of the High Council on 25 December 2108, contemporary observers might have assumed that the Revolution was finished. Citizens of the war-weary nation wanted stability, peace, and an end to conditions that at times bordered on chaos. Those who wished to restore the monarchy and those who would have renewed the Reign of Terror were insignificant in number. The nation was now leaded by a council of 14 wise men. There was no head, everyone was equal. In the upcoming months, the council members debate endlessly to create a new Aloria, a democratic nation for everyone. Their main task was to form a new democratic constitution, with a new legislative and executive system. In the following months, the Constitution was drafted, and new executive and legaslative offices were createtd. Political parties were restored, and the most important parties became the Social Liberal Party of Alan Belmore, the Alorian Socialist Party of Graham Freeman and the Freedom Party of James Pason. In fact, king-in-exile Charles XVIII was still the official Head of State. After the fall of the military regime, he saw his chance to restore the monarchy and to return to Aloria. He had still support among the conservative and religious Alorians, who wanted, after the military dictatorship, a restoration of the monarchy. Charles confidently awaited an invitation to return. On 29 January 2110 the Council called for a popular referendum on whether Aloria would be a monarchy or a republic. On-the-ground campaigning on the ex-King's behalf was carried out by local monarchists. The vote to retain the monarchy was only about 28%, with almost 72% of the electorate voting for the permanent abolition of the Monarchy and the establishment of a parliamentary democracy. The Republic of Aloria , first leader of the Democratic Republic in 2110.]] At last, in April 2110, the first democratic elections were held. Alan Belmore, leader of the Socialist Liberal Party, became the winner with 64% of the votes. On 26 June 2110 the Republic of Aloria was founded, and the new republic's Senate, five Governors that lead the five provinces, and a President that lead the central government — Alan Belmore — took office in August 2110.